A demonstration was held at the Department of Equality and Integration in Dublin today, calling for the removal of barriers erected along the Grand Canal.
The ‘Take Back Our Spaces’ coalition has described the steel fencing as “hostile” and is demanding its removal, following its installation in May to prevent asylum seekers from setting up tents on the canal’s banks.
The fencing, which runs from Grand Canal Street to Portobello, is costing Waterways Ireland €30,000 per week to maintain.
Roisin McAleer, an activist with Social Rights Ireland who attended the demonstration, said asylum seekers are being scapegoated.
“We don't believe that asylum seekers are the cause of this problem,” she told Newstalk.
“We don't believe that Ireland is full, and we see that message coming directly from the government.
“We’re here to oppose the government, to call them out, and to put pressure on them to act in accordance with the law, especially given their violations of accommodation rights.”
A woman walks her dogs beside anti-asylum seeker tent barriers on the Grand Canal in Dublin, 09-05-2024. Image: 09/05/2024. Image: Leah Farrell/RollingNewsCATU communications officer Harun Šiljak said that a long-term solution to the issue involves bringing more homes on stream.
“We need to build more homes and open up derelict properties around the State,” he said.
“We’re talking about 100,000 homes around the State that could be made available for living.
“That would help us address the housing crisis, the health crisis, and the mental health crisis, and help us build a community in which we have solidarity with one another and can face the challenges ahead.”
'Obscenely cruel'
Mary Martin from People Before Profit’s Dublin Bay South branch described the fencing as “obscenely cruel.”
“This is anti-homeless and racist infrastructure that has been put up around our green spaces to keep homeless people and IPAs out of Dublin,” she said.
“There are lots of different groups opposing this. The Government is making all these big decisions without any input from the people who actually live in the constituencies – and we don’t want these fences up.
“We have the right to the city and the right to green space around our homes.”
There are now over 2,300 homeless asylum seekers in Ireland.
Waterways Ireland has been contacted for comment.
Main image: Dozens attended today's protest. Image: Marese O'Sullivan/Newstalk
